Building an inclusive future

S T R A T E G Y D O C U M E N T
1 6 M A R C H 2 0 2 2
Strategy for the
RCRC coalition of CSOs

1 Context
CONTENTS
2 Vision
Strategic Priorities
4
3 Mission
Next phase +Proposal
6
5 High-level impact metrics

RCRC was initiated to mobilize efforts
towards Covid-19 response activities
GENESIS:RCRC was the result of increased need for effective
last mile service delivery and providing grassroots insights to
the government on relief actions in light of the Covid-19
pandemic
BENEFICIARIES: RCRC impacted over 6 million families in 12
states through its work, including the vulnerable,
marginalized,and migrant families
NGO: The Coalition was initiated by 7 CSO leaders, and
currently represents over 70 CSOs with presence across most
states
GOVT: RCRC has begun working with state and local
governments including several states, including Rajasthan,
Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar through their state
coalitions
FUNDERS:RCRC has received funding from leading donor
organizations such as BMGF, Omidyar Network, Ford
Foundation, Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiatives, Arghyam
RCRC came together ~2 years ago to provide rapid COVID support to CSOs and
end beneficiaries coordinating across various ecosystem actors
Impact Achieved by RCRC:
Last mile
delivery
Advocacy
Research
& action
design and reach of welfare schemes like PDS
RCRC members worked with local governments to
facilitate job cards, benefits of MGNREGA, PDS
applications, pensions, etc. and train people in
COVID appropriate behaviour. Over 144,800
families benefitted from accessingentitlements
under PMGKY and 4 million people were trained in
covid appropriate behaviour
RCRC facilitated over ₹ 50 crore in funding for
member organizations, using only ₹ 3 crore to
facilitate the funding - a leverage of more than 16X
40+ reputed organisations participated in three
surveys to cover 11300, 17000, 11600 respondent
households across ~70districts in 11 states to
understand how resilient communities were to
COVID
News articles, editorials,and other multimedia
platforms were used to highlight challenges and
offer recommendations aimed at improving the
Funding
3

Over the past 12 weeks, RCRC has been reflecting on their impact till date and
working on defining their future role in the Indian development ecosystem
Inorder to arrive at a full strategy plan for this pivot, we need to focus on addressing 6 key subset of questions:
1
2
5
4
PURPOSE
ROLE
STRUCTURE
• What are the specific activities that RCRC should undertake within its prioritized roles?
• How can RCRC action these activities, and who is responsible for actioning the activities?
• How should RCRC be structured and organized in order to best accomplish its purpose
and role(s)?
• How can RCRC maintain accountability of the responsibilities and contributions of its
members?
ACTIVITIES
6 ACCOUNTABILITY
3 PRIORITIES
& OUTPUTS
• What key purpose does RCRC serve?
• What are the needs and opportunities in the Indian development ecosystem that RCRC
can help address?
• Which specific segment of the population should RCRC target its efforts towards?
• In what areas pertaining to the target population should RCRC focus its efforts on?
• What specific roles should RCRC play in order to achieve its purpose?
• What are RCRC’s key strategic priorities and/or goals?
• What are the outputs that RCRC should focus on achieving?
• What metrics should be used to measure the impact of RCRC’s work?
We have focused on these three subset of questions in this engagement
4

Who: There is strong alignment within RCRC members to focus efforts
on marginalized communities, which is also reflective of the current need
Notes: (1) SC, ST, religious minorities; (2) Part of households earning less than Rs. 2 lakh annual income
Source: Census data; The Wire, India’s Urbanisation is Dangerously Exclusionary and Unequal, 2016 6
Marginalized communities form a sizeable
portion of the population
45%of the population are socially marginalized1
30%of the population are economically marginalized2
They lag behind the national average on
several key indicators especially in rural
areas
45%of ST population in rural areas are in poverty compared to 24%
in urban areas. For comparison, the national average is 25% in rural
and 14% in urban areas
However, urban areas also require attention
as the proportion of marginalized groups
living in urban areas is expected to increase
40%more SCs lived in urban areas in 2011 compared to 2001. This is
likely to continue in line with the projected 21% increase by 2036 in
proportion of Indians living in urban areas
This warrants attention given recent migrants are more likely to be
slum dwellers especially if they are also socially marginalized
There is alignment within RCRC on reaching
marginalized communities in both rural and
urban areas
Part of RCRC’s big tent
approach should be to
work for all marginalized
communities in India”
- RCRC member
“
RCRC should be welcoming of
organizations working for the upliftment
of marginalizedcommunities regardless
of whether they operate in rural or urban
areas”
- RCRC member
“

What: Ensuring fundamental social values like justice, inclusivity and equity
emerged as the main suggestions for RCRC’s intended way of impact
Wordcloud on the most common suggestions by RCRC members for the ”what”
The most commonly
suggestedterms were those
that pertainedto ensuring
socialvalues or addressing
social problems.Members
can coalesce around
sharedvalues
7
Specific purpose pathwaysthat
pertain to economic indicators like
poverty alleviation, livelihoods
opportunities etc.for marginalized
communities can be driven by
individualRCRC members

We have arrived at two options for the Vision statement, which reflects
both the need in India, as well as the desire of RCRC’s members
OPTION 1
OPTION 2
“WHO” “WHAT” VISION
We envision an India where civil society participates and collaborates with Samaj,
Sarkar, Bazaar, and Sanchar to build an inclusive, equitable, and just future for and
with marginalized communities
8
Theabovetwo versionsof the Vision statementwerewhat we arrivedat during our most recentworkshop, with
particularlystrongresonancetowardsOption 2
We envision an India where marginalized communities actively contribute towards
building an inclusive, equitable and just future for all

RCRC is best suited to influencing actions at the ecosystem level and
strengthening CSOs, and not directly work on marginalized communities
Marginalized communities
Ecosystem actors
Donors
Fund CSOs to
implement programs
Business
Fund CSOs through
CSR initiatives
Government
Funds and scales
CSOs and implements
programs directly
Media
Covers marginalized
communities and the
work done by CSOs
Research Institutions
Conducts research
either through CSOs
or directly
RCRC can build the capacity and delivery
capability of its member CSOs by building a strong
and engaged network, encouraging collaboration
and representing the needs and interests of CSOs
Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)
10
RCRC can work with each
of the ecosystem actors
individually as wellas
collectively to inspire
collaborative action

Our analyses on needs of marginalized communities leads to four key
challenges faced by them and cross cutting issues faced by CSOs
Issues plaguing marginalized
communities rarely receive
mainstream media attention
Society and people in power are
not aware of issues of the
marginalized leading to
ineffective design and
implementation of solutions
struggle to access basic services
and entitlements due to gaps in
awareness and last-mile
delivery
Attention Awareness Access Representation
Marginalized communities are
underrepresented in circles of
power in government,business
and media
Civil Society Organizations: Capacity Building, Collaboration , Representation
11
CSOs work directly in enhancing the lives of marginalized communities, yet they face several challenges. They tend to be capacity
constrained (especially the smaller CSOs), work in silos and rarely collaborate with each other and other key ecosystem actors, and do
not have a cohesive representative voice to vouch for their needs and requirements

RCRC has unique strengths that allow it to operate at scale and be the
“collaborator” across ecosystem actors
12
Source: Dalberg RCRC Member Survey
Access to marginalized
communities
Representative network of
CSOs with pan-India
coverage
RCRC members collectively
drive ~2
%of total
philanthropic funding in India
and include some of the
largest CSOs and comprise
over 40% of small NGOs and
have a presence in a majority
of states and UTs in India
Stats
• 76 members
• More than ₹ 1200crore
cumulative budget
• Over 10,000 combined
employee strength
• Over 1.6 crore beneficiaries
reached
Access to government
1 2 3
RCRC members reach some
of the most vulnerable
communities in the country
Examples
• Keystone Foundation:
Indigenous tribes in the
Nilgiri Bioshpere Reserve
(NBR)
• EBSSS:Kols in Bundelkhand
• Ibtada: Meo Muslim
community in Mewat,
Rajasthan
RCRC, through its members,
have strong access to the
highest levels of government,
and can enter partnerships, as
well as gain a seat at the table
for important policy measures
and schemes
Stats
• The Ministry of Rural
Development, ICAR and
RCRC entered an MoU to
economically transform 100
rural Districts in the
country.
Access to donors and trust
to aggregate funding
RCRC facilitated close to ₹ 50
crore in funding for member
organizations despite being a
new collaborative
Stats
• RCRC used less than ₹ 3
crores to facilitated the ₹
50 crore funding – a
leverage of more than 16X
• Additionally, RCRC has
already influenced a few
donors’ funding strategies
by being a trusted
aggregator and partner
4

RCRC can leverage its strengths to address the gaps across attention,
awareness, access, and representation of marginalized communities
Gap level Needs Required drivers/strengths
(To be able to work on these needs)
Should RCRC focus
on this need?
Increasing media attention to the needs of
marginalized communities
Inclusive government policies and programs
Equity-centered research
Streamlining funding with a multi-sector lens
Enabling last-mile delivery of services and
entitlements for large schemes and programs
Increasing representation of marginalized groups in
all levels of government
business as employees, owners, senior
management,etc.
media as journalists,editors, etc.
Community access CSO network
Government access Community access
Technical know-how
Donor access and trust
Community access
CSO network
Community access
Government access
Government access
Community access Government access
Community access Technical know-how
Technical know-how
Community access
13
Technical know-how

For CSOs, RCRC can play a significant role to address gaps in capacity
building, collaboration, and representation
Gap level Needs Required drivers/strengths
(To be able to work on these
needs)
Should RCRC
focus on this
need?
Enabling CSOs to implement programs and
initiatives on the ground
Community access CSO network
Facilitating cross-learning to enhance collaboration
between CSOs CSO network
Establishing capacity and accountability standards
CSO network Technical know-how
Facilitating collaboration between CSOs and
external actors
CSO network
Community access
Government access
Establishing a go-to representative voice for CSOs
in government and media CSO network Government access
RCRC should focus RCRC can maybe focus RCRC should not focus
14

Applying the design principles and trade-offs that members have already
considered to the gaps analyses…
D ESIG N PRIN C IPLE S
RC RC SH O U LD T A K E A B IG T EN T
A P PRO A C H A N D B RIN G K EY
ST A K EH O LD ERS T O G ET H ER
2
RC RC SH O U LD PLA Y T H E RO LE O F A
F A C ILIT A T O R V S A N IM PLEM EN T ER
1
RC RC ’S EF F O RT S SH O U LD B E
EQ U IT Y -C EN T ERED A N D IN C LU SIV E
3
RC RC SH O U LD B E RE PRESEN T A T IV E –
B O T H IN T ERN A LLY A N D EX T ERN A LLY
4
As a collaborative of CSOs, RCRC is likely to be most
effective as a facilitator than as a direct implementer on
the ground.
By taking a big-tent approach, RCRC can bring together
key stakeholders across Samaaj, Sarkar, and Bazaar to
work across topic areas to promote and drive impact at
scale.
With this emphasis,RCRC can ensure that the most
vulnerable and marginalized groups are benefited.
RCRC should work to be representative both in terms
of the composition of its member organizations, as well
as representative in the voices that it brings up and
elevates.
15

…provides clear pathways for RCRC to address the focus areas
1.Increasing media attention to the needs of
2. Inclusive government policies and programs
3. Equity-centered research
4. Streamlining funding with a multi-sector lens
5. Facilitating cross-learning to enhance
collaboration between CSOs
6.Establishing capacity and accountability
standards to facilitate external collaboration
7.Enabling CSOs to implement large-scale delivery
programs and initiatives
8.Facilitating collaboration between CSOs and
external actors
9.Establishing a go-to representative voice for
CSOs in government and media
1. Elevating the issuesand voices of the marginalized to
mainstreamnational media
2.Ensuring government action is more inclusive by becoming
go-to advisorsfor policy/programmingthrough inputs from the
grassroots
3.Equity-centered research with the agendadriven by
marginalizedgroups (work with technical partners)
4.Facilitating funding by being astrategicpartner and advisor
to donors
5.Institutionalizing cross-learning between members to
facilitate collaboration and strengthening of capacities
6.Establishing capacity & accountability standardsfor the
voluntarysector (will need supportfrom technical partners)
7.Function as an aggregatorfor the deliveryof large-scale projects,
programsand initiativeson the ground
8.Takingabig-tentapproachto facilitate collaborationwith
donors,government,corporates and media
9.RCRC represents the interests and needs ofCSOs with both
government and media
RCRC
focus
areas
How
RCRC
will
address
them
16

On completing our analyses, we have arrived at three options for RCRC’s
Mission statement
OPTION 1
OPTION 2
GAPS NEEDS STRENGTHS + DESIGN PRINCIPLES MISSION
17
We build a strong network of CSOs and facilitate collective action with Sarkar, Samaj,
Bazar, and Sanchar to ensure that efforts to improve the lives of marginalized are inclusive
and equitable.
To be the representative voice of CSOs working on improving the lives of marginalized
communities and inspiring collective action with Samaj, Sarkar, Bazaar, and Sanchar
We build an inclusive and competent platform for CSOs and Samaj, Sarkar, Bazaar, and
Sanchar to collaborate and act together for constructive actions for enabling marginalised
communities to shape and control their destinies
OPTION 3

The Mission statement can be broken down further to its three
constituent strategic priorities
MISSION STATEMENT
Strategic Priority 1
Generate evidence to uplift
marginalized voices
Build a strong network of
CSOs to enhance capacity,
and be the representative
voice forCSOs nationally
T
akea big tent approach to
inspirecollective action
Raise awareness and draw attention
to the needs,challenges,and
prioritiesofmarginalized
communities by generating evidence
through equity centered research and
by elevating community voices
19
Improve the capacity of CSOs by building
a strong and engagednetwork of
members, facilitating access to resources
including funding and talent, establishing
standards for effective governance,
enabling effective delivery of large-scale
projects, and being the representative
voice for CSOs nationally
Build an engaged network of key
stakeholders across community,
government,business, and media to
have a seat at the decision-making
table and inspire collaboration and
collective action in implementation to
benefitmarginalizedcommunities

Strategic Pillar 1: Generate evidence to uplift marginalized voices
20
S. no Outputs Potential Activities (Illustrative) Status
1 Research agenda is determined from the
ground-up
• CSOs conduct surveys of beneficiaries to determine top of mind
issues among the marginalized
• Survey of CSOs to determine the research priorities
Agreed
2 Advance the technical know-how of CSOs in
conducting research through partnerships
• Partner with research institutions, universities etc. to improve the
technical capacity of CSOs to conduct research
Agreed
3 Evidence is generated on the needs and
challenges of marginalized communities
through grassroots equity-centered research
• Partner with research, academic, and government institutions to
conduct, publish, and disseminate research on the marginalized
• RCRC member CSOs partner to conduct and disseminate research
Agreed
4 Marginalized leaders have greater visibility
and are engaged in public discourse
• Champion marginalized leaders and give them a platform to share
their thoughts, opinions and perspectives
Agreed
5 Public awareness on marginalized
communities are increased through
workshops, and thought leadership and
representation in media is increased
• Partner with universities to conduct regular series of
workshops/webinars/seminars for students
• Conduct ad-hoc public seminars to disseminate findings from
publications/research
• Have regular publications (podcasts, columns etc.)
Agreed
6 Intervention agenda of CSOs is determined
by the evidence generated via research
• RCRC members determine intervention plans and budget allocation
based on need on the ground which is revealed via research
Agreed
7 Publish an annual report focused on the
state of marginalized communities and CSOs
in India
• Put together an annual flagship publication (similar to ASER report)
focused on marginalized communities
• Conduct elaborate dissemination programs
• This could be a seminal publication and greatly benefit the
ecosystem, yet can occupy a large effort and require considerable
funding
TBD
Raise awareness and draw attention to the needs,challenges, and priorities of marginalized communities by generating evidence through
equity centered research and by elevating community voices

Strategic Pillar 2: Build a strong network of CSOs to enhance capacity,
and be the representative voice for CSOs nationally
21
1 RCRC membership is large, diverse and
representative of CSOs in the space
• Setting membership targets and goals to enhance recruitment
• Setting quotas for %membership diversity
• Publish best practices and highlight reports on members’ work
Agreed
2 Knowledge and expertise is shared among
members through a platform set up by RCRC
• Build a database/catalogue of member organizations
• Conduct regular workshops/forums to share knowledge, expertise and
build familiarity between members to enhance collaboration
Agreed
3 Members receive greater funding through
access to RCRC’s network and funding pool
• RCRC connects with philanthropies, CSRs, HNIs to raise funding for efforts
of members and other on the ground organizations
• RCRC serves as an advisor to major donors to direct funding
• Targeted fundraising for smaller CSOs, innovative interventions
Agreed
4 RCRC aggregates large scale delivery projects,
programs, and initiatives
• RCRC serves as an aggregator, working with donors and government to
bring onboard large scale delivery projects
TBD
5 RCRC serves as the representative voice for
CSOs nationally
• RCRC represents interests of CSOs in the overall ecosystem, especially
with government and donors, elevating the needs and challenges
TBD
6 Member CSOs have strong systems (finance,
HR etc.)and execution capacity through
organizational development and capacity
building sessions
• Establish common standards for every RCRC member to go through (e.g.
courses, training sessions, workshops) and minimum systems in place (e.g.
HR, finance, anti-sexual harassment policy)
• Adopt new technological systems to enhance delivery and monitoring;
Conduct trainings to upskill CSOs on technology
Agreed
7 Measurement standards are established for on
ground interventions and programmatic
efforts
• Establish a standard/metrics to measure CSO effectiveness and quality;
every RCRC member required to meet standards
• We recommend that RCRC takes up this effort only if it is able to partner
with the right technical organization/agency
TBD
Improve the capacity of CSOs by building a strong and engaged network of members, facilitating access to resources including funding and talent,
establishing standards for effective governance, enabling effective deliveryof large-scale projects,and being the representative voice for CSOs nationally

Strategic Pillar 3: Take a big tent approach to inspire collective action
1 An engaged network of government,
community, donors, research institutions,
media houses, and business work together
collectively on issue affecting the marginalized
• Build a platform to enable formal collaborations and partnerships
with key government entities, research institutions, media houses,
private businesses to collectively work on furthering the needs of
the marginalized and partner on large policy issues and schemes
like NRLM
Agreed
2 Greater awareness of issues of marginalized
communities among donors (foundations, CSR
etc.) through regular communication and
awareness drives
• Partner with donors to advice them on their funding agenda and
help direct funding
• Raise and direct funding on significant/ big picture issues that
require collaborative action
• Conduct regular meetings and calls with donors to raise
awareness about the needs among marginalized communities and
CSOs working on addressing those needs
Agreed
3 RCRC is an advisor and thought partner to the
government (from Panchayat to national) and
influences policy, schemes, and programmes
for marginalized communities
• RCRC members join advisory councils and take up advisory roles
at all levels of the government
• Empower marginalized leaders and bring their voices to decision-
making forums (e.g. panchayat meetings, ministry meetings etc.)
• Build upon existing relationships with the government to provide
suggestions and perspectives on upcoming policies and schemes
Agreed
4 The spirit of voluntarism is rejuvenated and
more youth are inspired to volunteer and
talented young professionals are inspired to
join NGOs
• Conduct information sessions with universities to raise awareness
about impact and opportunities in the sector
• Organize fellowships and internship programs to attract young
talent to work with RCRC member organizations
• This could be an easy set-up and win for RCRC as the member
network provides ample opportunities to place youth to volunteer
TBD
22
Build an engaged network of key stakeholders across community, government,business, and media to have a seat at the decision-making
table and inspire collaboration and collective action to benefit marginalized communities

For measuring the impact of their work, collaboratives typically tend to
coalesce their metrics under six categories
24
Beneficiaries
Programmatic
Funding
Ecosystem
Internal
•Metrics sizing impact in terms of people reached / benefitted usually in the target groups e.g., #
beneficiaries reached in #villages
• Metrics tracking the outputs or effects of programmatic efforts e.g., #reports published
•Metrics tracking funds channeled usually to the focus thematic areas or regions e.g., funds
raised for sanitation
• Metrics tracking ecosystem influence e.g., #partnerships, #policies influenced
• Metrics gauging internal strength of the collaborative e.g., #members, level of collaboration
Talent • Metrics tracking the quantum and quality of talent e.g., #NGO leaders from marginalized groups

Collaboratives prioritize different types of impact metrics and don’t
always set metrics across all six categories
Note: Impact metrics listed were drawn from documents available publicly or through previous Dalberg projects and may not be exhaustive
25
• Fundraise ₹ 375 crores for
adolescent health and development
in India
• Prototype, create and demonstrate
solutions in 25 Blocks(~2,500
Villages)directly impacting 1.2
millionlives
Current budget: ₹ 25 crores Current budget: ₹ 18 crores
Impact
metrics
• Scale solutions by embeddingthem
withinlarge government programs
such as Aspirational District
program and NRLM
• Bring in market players to develop
vibrant production clusters around
farm and livestock
• Develop and nurture a suite of
partner/sister organizations
providing market-based solutions
for capitalinfusion,andlarge
market accessfor rural
microenterprises
• Develop and disseminate 3-4 best
practicesfor field buildingbased on
programming across multiple states
• Influence behavior change through
enhanced normative change
programming for adolescents,
through campaigns and
communications
• Strengthen coordination with
government, foundations, and
corporates
• Advocate for improving
implementationof 2-3 adolescent-
focused policies and programs
Legend People Programmatic Funding Ecosystem Internal
Implementing Facilitating
• Promoting collaborationbetween
Government, Corporate and
Voluntary Sector through
knowledgesharing
• Promoting better governance in the
voluntary sector
Current budget: ₹ 1.5 crores
• Analysis of policies relevant to the
voluntary sector
• Documentation and dissemination
of effective case studiesshowcasing
the sector’scontributionto social
transformation
• Strengtheningleadership of VOs
Implementing
collaboratives
tend to have
higher budgets
Beneficiary
metrics are more
common in
implementing
while ecosystem
metrics are more
common in
facilitating
collaboratives
Both types of
collaboratives
usually include
programmatic
metrics

RCRC can consider setting goals for and tracking performance against
some of the following impact metrics (1/2)
Annual “state of the marginalized”reports
•Helps RCRC establish itself as an authoritative voice
leveraging its extensive grassroots reach
People
Programmatic
#marginalized leaders’ voices highlighted
•Ensures RCRC strives to bring out the human
aspects of the marginalized communities
%graduates joiningNGOs
• Ensures RCRC leverages its network to generate a
much-needed talent stream for NGOs
Impactmetrics Current RCRC efforts
• No current efforts
Talent
•Few independent efforts by members e.g., Buddha
fellowship
Funding
Fundingfacilitated by RCRC as %of total funding
•Pushes RCRC to drive the agenda for philanthropic
funding in India
Share of funding for small NGOs
•Ensures that RCRC facilitated funding reaches the
organizations that need it most
•RCRC leveraged less than ₹ 3 Cr to facilitate close
to ₹ 50 Cr for its members which is 0.08%of the total
• 16%of RCRC facilitated funding has gone to the
smallest NGOs
26

#orgsadoptingstandards /indices set by RCRC
• Helps increase RCRC’s credibility and position it as
a thought leader
Funding directed towards specific actions e.g.,
implementation changesin MGNREGA
•Pushes RCRC to deepen partnerships and adopt the
role of a trusted partner / advisor
Representative membership e.g.,#thematic areas,
# geographies (states /districts)represented
• Ensures that RCRC’s expansion is thoughtful and
strategic
•RCRC has a coverage across 19 states and more
than 14 thematic areas
• RCRC is actively consideringincreasing
membership from states and themes with few to no
members
Quality of membership e.g.,%members meeting
minimumcapacity standards, %members meeting
participation standards
•Pushes RCRC to provide targeted support as
needed to ensure members meet minimum standards
and actively engage within the RCRC framework
Ecosystem
Internal •Isolated efforts e.g., contracting an OD firm to build
the capacity of organizations part of RCRC’s
Northeast chapter
27

#orgsadoptingstandards /indices set by RCRC
a thought leader
Funding directed towards specific actions e.g.,
implementation changesin MGNREGA
•Pushes RCRC to deepen partnerships and adopt the
role of a trusted partner / advisor
strategic
•RCRC has a coverage across 19 states and more
than 14 thematic areas
• RCRC is actively consideringincreasing
membership from states and themes with few to no
members
Quality of membership e.g.,%members meeting
minimumcapacity standards, %members meeting
participation standards
•Pushes RCRC to provide targeted support as
needed to ensure members meet minimum standards
and actively engage within the RCRC framework
Ecosystem
Internal •Isolated efforts e.g., contracting an OD firm to build
the capacity of organizations part of RCRC’s
Northeast chapter
28

From our survey, the annual “state of the marginalized” reports is by
far the most prominent, followed by three other impact metrics
Annual “state of the marginalized”reports
• Helps RCRC establish itself as an authoritative voice
leveraging its extensive grassroots reach
Programmatic
Funding
Share of funding for small NGOs
• Ensures that RCRC facilitated funding reaches the
organizations that need it most
#orgsadopting standards /indices set by RCRC
a thought leader
Ecosystem
strategic
Internal
Top impact metrics to focus on (as per Dalbergsurvey) %respondents who picked as their Top 3 metrics
29
80%(12 respondents)
40%(6 respondents)
40%(6 respondents)
40%(6 respondents)

In order to action the ToC into practice, there are a few additional areas
of focus that RCRC has to dive deep into
31
MEL plan
Implementatio
n plan
Organization
structure
Budget Re-branding
Whatshould RCRC’s
MEL plan look like?
Whatare the key
metrics it should focus
on?
How willRCRC go about
actioning the key
activities in order to
accomplish the slated
outputs? Whatwillthe
composition of the core
team to lead this be?
WhatwillRCRC’s
working organization
structure look like? How
willthe different
membersand entities
work with each other?
How much funding will
RCRC have to
raise/directin order to
accomplish its outputs
and mission?
Whatshould RCRC now
be called, given its
change in purpose? How
should it be marketed?
See next slidefor abrief proposalon how Dalbergcan help RCRC
arriveatthis over our next phase of work
RCRC should hire a
marketing/PR/brandingfirm
to help with thisprocess

We propose a 10 week engagement to help bring RCRC closer to
actioning its new Theory of Change (ToC)
32
Budget MEL Plan
1 2 3 4
ImplementationPlan& Activities
Roadmap
4 WEEKS
To develop an overarching implementation plan for
RCRC by diving deep into the key activitiesthat RCRC
will take up to achieve its strategic priorities and
outcomes
OrganizationalDesign,HR
requirements & JD Preparation
3 WEEKS
To finalize RCRC’sorganization structure,
responsibilities of members, governance, and
accountability as wellas the various HR
requirements to fillallthe roles
1 WEEK
To calculatethe budget
requirements for running RCRC,
fueling allits activities,and
improving capacity of members
2 WEEKS
To develop a detailed monitoring,
evaluation, and learning plan for RCRC
Key
Questions
Objectiv
es
Activities: What are the detailed activities that
RCRC should take up along each of its strategic
priorities?
Target group:Who are the target beneficiaries of
each of these activities? In what geographic regions
should RCRC action these activities?
Capacity & Capabilities: What are the capabilities
that RCRC requires to be able to carry out these
activities? How can RCRC get these capabilities?
Collaboration:Who are the key actors/players in
the space that RCRC should partner or collaborate
with in order to action these activities effectively?
Activities roadmap:Which of these activities or
collaborations should be immediately prioritized?
Which of these are long-term?
Structure:How should RCRC be structured
to most effectively meet its goals and
objectives? (e.g. national, regional etc.)
Governance:How are the actions and
decisions mase by members governed?
Responsibility: What is the responsibility of
the members/actors at each level of the
structure? Who makes what decisions?
Accountability:How are RCRC members
held accountable?
HR requirements:What are the various HR
requirements to meet the implementation
plan and the activity roadmap?
• Full implementation roadmap and plan
Output
s
• RCRC organization design document
• HR requirements document
• Job descriptions of the main HR
requirements/positions
RCRC team: What are the
budgetary requirements for
running RCRC on a daily basis?
Fundingfor activities:How much
money should RCRC raise to be
able to fuel all the activities and
implementation plan
Fundingfor enhancingcapacity:
How much funding should RCRC
raise to be able to improve
capabilities and capacities of
member organizations
• Budget document detailing
targets for RCRC
Metrics: How can RCRC’s work
be monitored effectively? What
are the key metrics to be
tracked/followed?
Evaluation: How should RCRC’s
work/progress be evaluated?
Which organization should be
brought onboard to conduct the
evaluation?
Learning:What are the
structures of learning that RCRC
should put in place to be able to
build upon its work and improve
continuously?.
• Detailed M EL documents

We propose a robust team comprising Project Directors, a Project
Manager and a Consultant
33
Shruti Goyal
Project Director
Gaurav Gupta
Project Co-Director
ProjectManager
(50%) - TBD
Proposed teamstructure
Consultant
TBD
Project Direction
• Provide strategic direction and
technical expertise
• Overallcoordination and
facilitation
• Ensure quality of deliverables
Management
• Day-to-day project management
and process management
(timelines,invoicing,budget,etc.)
• Client and stakeholder
management
• Definition of deliverables and key
pieces of analysis
Execution
• Plan and execute primary and
secondary research
• Conduct analyses and synthesize
findings
• Design and develop deliverables
Proposed Budget
Our proposed professional fee accounts
for a robust and consistently engaged
team to meet the needs of this
ambitious initiative over a 10-week
period..
We are happy to hold this conversation
and arrive at a budget that works best
for both parties

P R E V IO U S R E S E A R C H A N D O T H E R A N A L Y S E S T H A T
IN F O R M E D O U R W O R K
Annex

1 RCRC Strengths Analyses
CONTENTS
2 Collaboratives Analyses
Other miscellaneous analyses
4
3 Mission statement analyses

RCRC has unique strengths across access, network, and coverage that
allow it to operate at scale; its members clearly recognize these strengths
36
Note: (1) Calculated as Size of rural development space =(total philanthropic funding *share of funding for rural development) +NRLM budget; (Rural development is considered to be comprised of: Financial
inclusion, Education, Skilling and employability, Environment and climate change, Agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries, Community development and upliftment, Poverty alleviation, Humanitarian assistance
and relief, Local governance, Service (and entitlement) delivery, Women empowerment, Health and nutrition. Source: Dalberg RCRC Member Survey
Access to communities
Largest network of CSOs in rural
development
Pan-Indiacoverage
RCRC members recognize its unique strengths
1 2 3
56% 55% 53%
RCRC members reach some of the most
vulnerable communities in the country
Examples
• Keystone Foundation: Indigenous tribes
in the Nilgiri Bioshpere Reserve (NBR)
• EBSSS: Kols in Bundelkhand
• Ibtada: Meo Muslim community in
Mewat, Rajasthan
RCRC members collectively represent 3%
of the rural development budget in
India1 and include some of the largest
NGOs
Stats
• 76 members
• More than ₹ 1200 crore cumulative
budget
• Over 10,000 combined employee
strength
• Over 1.6 crore beneficiaries reached
RCRC members have coverage across all
regions in India
Stats
• RCRC members have a presence in a
majority of states and union territories
• In 6 states, they have deep coverage
(>30 employees / 10 lakh people)
%top 3
mentionsin
the survey
(n=62)

RCRC members reach some of the most vulnerable communities in the
country
Sources: Keystone foundation website; ABSSS website; Ibtada website 37
• Indigenous tribes in the Nilgiri Bioshpere
Reserve (NBR) area
• The people of these tribes typically number
in the thousands and live in small, remote
geographic pockets
• Kols in Bundelkhand
• Systematically exploited for generations,
they are landless and typically engage in
bonded manual labor
• Meo muslim community in Mewat,
Rajasthan
• A traditional peasantry class, they live in
extreme backwardness due to lack of
resources, awareness, education facilities,
health facilities and gender equality
• Trained tribal communities in apiculture
providing a sustainable source of livelihood
• Works to conserve the fragile ecosystem of
the NBR region by engaging the local
communities
• Publicized the issues plaguing Kols through
media mentions
• Ensured that government benefits /
entitlements such as Jan Dhan and
MGNREGA reach the intended
beneficiaries
Examples of RCRC members reaching vulnerable communities
Keystone Foundation
ABSSS
Akhil BharatiyaSamajSewa Sansthan Ibtada
Communities
Impact
created
1

RCRC has a combined employee strength, budget and beneficiary reach that is
larger than some of the largest NGOs in India [Option 1]
38
Cumulatively INR 1200 cr+
Cumulatively 10,000+
Cumulatively 1.6 crore
>6
x
>CARE (₹195 cr) |STC (₹178 cr) |HelpAge (₹117 cr)
CARE (1200+)|HelpAge (450+
)|TFI (280)
CRY (40 lakhs+)|STC (20lakhs) |Smile (15lakhs)
As a collective force, RCRC is already larger than a few of the largest NGOs in India
Source: Respective Annual Reports, Dalberg Analysis
Notes: STC- Save the Children; CRY- Child Rights and You; TFI- Teach For India; Latest RCRC numbers will be updated once the survey is closed
B udget
Employ ees >8x
B enef iciaries >4x
Other leading NGOs
2

RCRC’s members work on some of the largest thematic areas in rural
development and include some of the largest organizations
Note: (1) Five most-funded thematic areas (2) highlighted organizations are RCRC members 39
Thematic areas1 # RCRC
member
organizations
active
Largest organizations active2
Education 40
Health and nutrition 48
Agriculture, animal husbandry
and fisheries
60
Environment and climate change 48
Skilling and employability 32
2

Its member organizations comprise ~3% of the rural development space
in India [original]
Notes: (1) Calculated as Size of rural development space = (total philanthropic funding * share of funding for rural development) +NRLM budget; (2) Rural development is considered
to be comprised of: Financial inclusion, Education, Skilling and employability, Environment and climate change, Agriculture, animal husbandry, and fisheries, Community development
and upliftment, Poverty alleviation, Humanitarian assistance and relief, Local governance, Service (and entitlement) delivery, Women empowerment, Health and nutrition
Sources: National CSR portal; Dasra-Bain, India Philanthropy Report 2021 40
RCRC’s combined budget forms ~
3
%of the funding
going into the rural development space in India…
….and ~1.7%of the philanthropic funding going into the
top 5 thematic areas within rural development
Breakdownof fundingby sector
FY 21, in INR crores (approximate)
12,000
Rural development
sector2
45,500 Crores1
84 130 62
9,000
3,500
2,500
2,000
113 97
Agriculture, Environment and
animal husbandry climate change
and fisheries
Education Health and
nutrition
Sector
Skilling and
employability
RCRC
1200
Cr
RCRC
2

in India with a sizeable presence even in lesser focused thematic areas
3
%of the funding
going into the rural development space in India
A majority of RCRC’s budget targets lesser focused
thematic areas
Share of top 5 thematic areasin total budget
FY 21, in % (approximate)
Rural development
sector2
45,500 Crores1
1200
Cr
RCRC
64%
40%
36%
60%
Rural development
space
RCRC
Others
Top 5
Thematic
areas
2
Sources: National CSR portal; Dasra-Bain, India Philanthropy Report 2021; Survey data 41

and ~4.5% of the lesser focused thematic areas in India
3
%of the funding
going into the rural development space in India
RCRC’s budget towards thematic areas outside the top 5
forms ~4.5%of the total funding to those areas in India
Rural development
sector2
45,500 Crores1
1200
Cr
RCRC
Funding to
thematic areas
outside the top 5
16,500 Cr
700
Cr
RCRC
2
Sources: National CSR portal; Dasra-Bain, India Philanthropy Report 2021; Survey data 42

Our survey results show a clear alignment among members on the
purpose of RCRC and the challenges it should attempt to solve
Source: Dalberg RCRC Member Survey 43
65%
To influence policy at the national
and state levels by being the
representative organization for rural
voices
61%
To build an engaged network of key
stakeholders andecosystem actors
in rural development
40% To be a movement-builder and
agenda-setter for rural development
52%
Lack of fundingfor smaller
organizationsin the rural
development space
50%
Lack of a representative voice of
civil society organizations (for
donors, government, and other key
stakeholders)
38% Difficulty in building partnerships
with government
Purpose of RCRC
N=62 |
% top 3 mentions in the survey| “From your perspective, what is
the purpose of RCRC?”
Challenges RCRC should work to address
N = 62 |%top 3 mentions in the survey |“What problem(s) or
challenge(s) in the ecosystem should RCRC focus its efforts on addressing?”

Given these strengths, RCRC is best placed to primarily play the role of
an advocate and network facilitator, while also touching on other roles
44
ADVO CATE
LEA RN IN G
H U B
N ET W O RK
F A C ILIT A T O R
T H IN K T A N K C A PA BILIT Y
BU ILD ER
PEA K
BO D Y
IM PLEM EN T A TIO N
C O O RD IN A T O R
KNOWLEDGE
Peer learning and
research for sectoral
development
NETWORK
Generating influence across
policy makers,society and other
external stakeholders
RESOURCES
Collectivizing resources
and opportunities for
impact at scale
Primary roles Secondary roles De-prioritized roles

Rural India faces several systemic challenges to development
These challenges are beyond the capacity of individual organizations and are best solved through collaboration
Intersectionality of issues
• Issues across thematic areas in rural India
are inter-linked e.g., agriculture-
environment, education-health-sanitation
etc. and cannot be addressed in isolation
Low organizational capacity
• Most organizations working on rural
development lack professional systems and
processes due to low bandwidth, lack of
funding for organizational development and
inaccessibility of support
Datainconsistency
• Various organizations publish data drawing
from different sources across different
parameters using different methodologies
making it difficult to reliably assess the
needs of rural communities
Technological backwardness
• Rural communities find it difficult to access
and / or leverage digital technology due to
limited infrastructure, low literacy levels,
lack of awareness, different linguistic needs
etc.
Skewed resource allocation
• A large portion of funding goes to a few
large organizations and select thematic
areas leaving most other organizations and
thematic areas chronically underfunded
Scale of diversity
• Rural India is a collection of communities
whose needs and demand for products and
services vary widely based on proximity to
markets, resources available, climatic
conditions and socio-economic parameters,
requiring customized solutions and delivery
models
46

To address these challenges, collaboratives engage stakeholders in
different ways to achieve their desired impact
Who isengaged
Collaboratives engage civil society, NGOs, funders
and government to
• Provide inputs e.g., voicing concerns and
demands
• Action on outputs e.g., changing policies
47
Howthey are engaged
Stakeholders usually provide inputs or action on
outputs through three modes:
• Knowledge – sharing expertise e.g., research,
lived experiences
• Network – building or facilitating connections
e.g., between movements and media
• Resources – providing material support e.g.,
funding, technical assistance
What they are engaged for
The engagement is in service of the collaboratives
desired impact which is usually across one or more
of three dimensions:
• Scale – scaling existing solutions or movements
to reach more people
• Influence – influencing stakeholder action,
change the agenda
• Innovation – nurturing and promoting
innovation in their areas of focus

We have seen typically four impact pathways for collaborators in India
(1/2)
1 |Carryingout large-scale
grassroots action
2 |Mobilizing/catalysing
external stakeholder action
3 |Amplifyingthe voice of
underrepresented communities
4 |Encouraging/nurturing
innovation
• Developing and piloting innovative
solutions for pressing social issues
with the goal of establishing
scalable business / philanthropic
cases and as a result, encouraging
further innovation
48
• Ensuring that the voices of
marginalized communities become
part of nationaldiscourse vs just
regional discourse
• Catalysing / strengthening social
movements to move beyond small
pockets to a national stage
Representing the voice of civil
society to:
• Inform and influence government
policies
• Influence private foundation and
corporate philanthropic programs
and fundingallocation
• Bringing together different
organizations to implement proven
solutionsat scale with enhanced
efficiency and cost effectiveness

We have seen typically four impact pathways for collaborators in India
(2/2)
Sources: Dalberg analysis; Bridgespan, Philanthropic Collaboratives in India, 2020; Synergos website, accessed December, 2021; India Sanitation Coalition website,
accessed December, 2021; Dasra, Collaboratives in India, ; Edelgive foundation website, accessed December, 2021
49
Key
activities
Impac
t
• Piloted 11 innovative projects
aimed at improving health and
nutrition outcomes of local
communities
4 successful pilots are being scaled up
by other orgs:
• Food diversification project for
quality food at anganwadis
• Girls gaining ground initiative to
build adolescent girls’ confidence
• Day care centers project to offer
day care for migrant laborers
• CAALP program to offer literacy,
health, nutrition training to women
innovation
• Supporting the unlocking of WASH
financing e.g., through roundtables
with companies,government and
CSOs
• Developing and disseminating best
practices in the sanitation
advocacy space
• Providing inputs into WASH
policies through participation at
allied forums
• Connected 51 MFIs with CSOs to
facilitate greater credit financing in
WASH
• Lobbying corporates to emulate
HUL’s ‘Swachhta Doot’ program
where factory workers become
WASH evangelists in their
communities
grassrootsaction
• Implementing result-oriented
processes at the school-level to
elevate learning outcomes
• Building the leadership abilities of
education functionaries at district,
block and cluster level
• 570,000 students have achieved
grade level competency
• Students’ performance in four pilot
blocks observed to be higher than
the more advanced blocks
• Identifying sanitation issues of
vulnerable communities including
urban poor
• Ensuring their voices become part
of national discourse through
media campaigns
While NFSSM has a higher focus
on spotlighting community
voices, it does so in pursuit of its
aim to influence government
policies
This seems to be a general trend:
collaboratives that gather and
leverage community voices
usually do so in pursuit of the
other impact pathways

On their chosen pathway, collaboratives engage on various permutations of
three ‘domain areas’ to adopt one or more out of seven roles
RESOURCES
impact at scale
KNOWLEDGE
Peer learning and
development
A DV O CATE
50
LEARNING
HUB
TH INK TA NK IM PLEM ENTA TIO N
CO O RDINA TO R
CA PA BILITY
BUILDER
PEA K BO DY
NETW O RK
FA CILITATO R
NETWORK

The roles adopted may vary from one collaborative to another even if
they choose the same impact pathway
• Advocate
• Think tank
• Advocate
• Network facilitator
• Learning hub
• Implementation coordinator
• Advocate
Pay what it takes collective
• Think tank
innovation
• Learning hub
• Learning hub
grassrootsaction
• Capacity builder
• Advocate
51

The roles collaborators can play depend on their strengths and
competitive advantage
Wide geographic reach
1 | Carrying out
large-
scale grassroots
action
2 | Mobilizing /
catalysing
external
stakeholder
action
3 | Amplifying the
voice of
underrepresented
communities
4 | Encouraging /
nurturing innovation
Deep community reach
Capacity building
expertise
Communications expertise
Implementation expertise
Research expertise
Large budget
Diversified funding sources
52

CSO collaboratives have aimed to influence action by adopting a
network, knowledge or resource driven approach…
N ETW O RK
RESOURCES
impact at scale
KNOWLEDGE
Peer learning and
development
A DV O CA TE
LEARNING
HUB
TH INK TA NK IM PLEM ENTA TIO N
CO O RDINA TO R
CA PA BILITY
BUILDER
PEA K BO DY
NETW O RK
FA CILITATO R
53

…yet, these efforts have been limited to certain issue areas, and tackle
challenges of specific communities or groups
Source: respective websites 54
Advocate with different actors to
facilitate flow of knowledge on and
resources for sanitation
Examples
• Knowledge fellowship for media
professionals
• Convenes and disseminates insights
from WASH forum
• Lobbying with corporates to follow
HUL’s Swachta doot model
Thematic areas
Sanitation
Externalstakeholders engaged
Private sector
Conduct and disseminate evidence-
based research to influence
government action
Examples
• Worked with Ministry of Housing and
Urban Affairs to draft national FSSM
policy
• Released multiple knowledge
products, including guides to FSSM,
video case studies and infographics
Thematic areas
FSSM
Beneficiaries reached
Manual scavengingworkers
Externalstakeholdersengaged
Government
Provide services to enable migrant
workers to realize their rights and
entitlements
Examples
• Assisted in filing 15 lakh+ individual
social security applications
• Established a national helpline to
report worker rights violations
• Conducted worker trainings to
facilitate safe migration
Thematic areas
Entitlement delivery
Beneficiaries reached
Migrant workers
Externalstakeholdersengaged
Private sector
Focus
area
What
they
do

To arrive at our strategy, we undertook a three step analyses process to
complement the suggestions of RCRC’s members
I. Identifying the needs
In Step 1, we identify the biggest needs of a) the marginalized communities and b)
civil society organizations
• 1a. What are the major challenges/issues faced by marginalized communities?
Whatdo they need to overcome these challenges?
• 1b. What are the challenges/issues faced by civil society organizationsin India?
II. Gaps in current efforts
In Step 2, we analyze efforts undertaken to meet the needs recognized in Step 1, and
identify the currentgaps that exist
• What are existing efforts undertaken to address challenges faced by marginalized
groups and civil society organizations?
• To what extent do these currentefforts fulfilthe needs?
III. RCRC’SUnique Strengths
Once we have identified all the major gaps that exist in current efforts,
we take the lens of RCRC’s unique strengths to finalizethe gaps that
RCRC is best placed to address
• Whatare RCRC’sunique strengths?
• Which gaps are these strengths especially likely to help address?
Mission +
Strategic Priorities 56

Our analyses on needs of marginalized communities leads to four key
challenges faced by them and cross cutting issues in CSOs
Issues plaguing marginalized
communities rarely receive
mainstream media attention
Society and people in power are
not aware of issues of the
marginalized leading to
ineffective design and
implementation of solutions
struggle to access basic services
and entitlements due to gaps in
awareness and last-mile
delivery
Attention Awareness Access Representation
underrepresented in circles of
power in government,business
and media
Civil Society Organizations: Capacity Building, Collaboration , Representation
CSOs work directly in enhancing the lives of marginalized communities, yet they face several challenges. They tend to be capacity
constrained (especially the smaller CSOs), work in silos and rarely collaborate with each other and other key ecosystem actors, and do
not have a cohesive representative voice to vouch for their needs and requirements
57

Issues plaguing marginalized communities rarely receive media attention
Word cloud based on national news headlines from 2009 to 20211
Note: (1) To visualize the word cloud, 100 headlines were chosen at random out of 1.13 lakh national news headlines in The Hindu from 2009 to 2021
Sources: (1) The Hindu; (2) Oxfam, Who tells our stories matters, 2019 58
SupremeCourt
Mumbai
flights
militants
U.S.
law
pledge
dead
Maximum
TN
Yoga
rebels
officials
first
24x7
organ-donation
shaken
review
TheWeek
parties
hike
death
ordinance
formalities
poor shoot empowering
schools
OmBirla
regional minimum-wage
human-error Northwest-India
storm
bus
email
Justice
appoint
conceded
Zone'
Bullets
mandate
IRCTC
positive
swearing-in
restrictions
governance
healthcare
orders
leak
Alagiri
gorge
violence
fees
pact hostility
low-carbon-technologies
Cabinet
vaccines Rohatgi
episode
Right-to-Education
Antony
2+2
world
IncomeTax
socialmedia
deficit RahulGandhi
rescue-op
Marginalized
communities typically
only make it to the
national headlines
when they are at the
center of large-scale
movements such as the
farmer protests, anti-
CAA protests etc.
Even when they do
make it to national
news, they are typically
covered by upper caste
men2

Society and people in power are not aware of issues of the marginalized
leading to ineffective design and implementation of solutions
59
Research
• Most research on / with marginalized
communities tends to be at a sub-district to
district level with few studies at a state level
• Different studies adopt different sample
sizes and sampling methods, and target
different gaps making them dismissible as
edge cases
Funding
• 55%of CSR and philanthropic funding is
channelled to just two sectors – education
and health & nutrition
• Most CSR and philanthropic funding is
directed to states with larger populations
like Maharashtra and not those with higher
poverty incidence like Jharkhand
The voice of the grassroots needs to be brought to the public
sector to ensure that government initiativescreate impact for the
poor”
- Parmesh Shah
“
Policies /Programs
• MGNREGA has not benefitted people with
disabilities and religious minorities
• NRLM falls short of addressing caste and
gender barriers to greater social mobility
• NFSA doesn’t recognize divorced /
separated women as ‘households’
depriving them of ration cards and hence
basic security nets
Policies and schemes are rarely equitable
and inclusive, leavingbehind the
vulnerable
Thereis a need to ensure that grassroot voices inform decision
making not justthe voices of people with money”
- Anurag Behar
“
Corporate and philanthropic donors’ goals
and criteria may not always reflect
community needs
Research studies that are inclusive of the
vulnerable are too sub-scale to inspire
union and state government action

Marginalized communities struggle to access basic services and
entitlements due to gaps in awareness and last-mile delivery
Slums especially those with higher proportion of marginalized groups like SCs and Muslims lack basic
services such as regular water supply, reliable electricity access etc. due to institutional apathy1
PHCs and CHCs in tribal areas lack adequate staff and facilities. On average, there are 22.4% fewer nurses
and 27.6% fewer doctors than government sanctioned positions in areas with high proportion of ST
population2
Only 20% of migrant households with ration cards tried using portability to access their rations due to lack
of awareness of the One Nation One Ration Card initiative3
Marginalized communities especially SC, ST population in remote areas are unaware of their rights and
entitlements under law and / or the path to legal recourse in case of violations
Sources: (1) The Wire, India’s Urbanisation is Dangerously Exclusionary and Unequal, 2016; (2) Ministry of Tribal Affairs data; (3) Dalberg study
with Omidyar Network, yet to be released 60
There is a lot of last-mile blindness.As a result, various concepts and initiatives don’t have the kind of
large-scale impact they are designed to have”
- Bindu Ananth
“

Marginalized communities are underrepresented in circles of power in
government, business and media
Sources: (1) Scroll, Verdict 2019 in charts and maps: Nearly half of India’s Muslim MPs come from only two states, 2019; (2) Business Standard,
Reservations take SC/STs to Parliament, but not to positions of influence, 2021; (3) AFP, Caste discrimination taints corporate India, 2020; (4)
Oxfam, Who tells our stories matters, 2019; (5) Media Studies Group, A Survey of a ‘Dark’ Reality: Caste in Media in 2006 61
Government
• Just 9
%of Lok Sabha MPs are from
religious minorities despite them
constituting almost 20% of the
population1
• While Lok Sabha meets the SC, ST
reservation criteria, only 30%of
parliamentary committees do2
Business
• M arginalized groups accounted for just
0.008%directorships in leading Indian
companies3
• Only 7
%of board members in leading
Indian companies are not from upper
castes3
• Candidates with SC surnames are half as
likely to be interviewed as those with
upper caste surnames3
Marginalized communities rarely make it
to the top in businesses
Media
• 75%of the anchors and a majority of the
panelists on flagship segments tend to be
upper caste men4
• SCs and STs are completely absent from
decision makingpositions at major media
organizations4
• Muslim and women representation in
decision making is only marginally better
at 3
%and 17%respectively5
Indianmedia severely lacks
representation from marginalized groups
in decision making
underrepresented in Parliamentespecially
in committees

CSO efforts to improve the lives of marginalized are limited by three
major challenges in capacity, collaboration, and representation
62
Capacity
• CSOs face several capacity constraints,
which is especially the case for smaller
organizations. These range in capacity to
execute programs, staff capacity,
organizational structure and systems,
ability to raise funding etc.
• Establishing standards for organizational
capacity, and providing resources for
capacity building can lead to better
outcomes and improve the lives of the
marginalized on the ground.
Collaboration
• CSOs work in silos re-inventing the
wheel on solutions in large part due to a
lack of awareness of each other’s work
and capacities, and competition.
• Additionally, there is limited
collaboration with external actors(e.g.
government, media, donors etc.)which
directly affects impact at scale.
• Collaboration both between CSOs and
external actors is crucial to further
impact.
Representation
• Government can be a powerful scale
multiplier to CSOs’ grassrootsefforts
and media can help accelerate
awareness and understanding among the
public. However,there isn’t one go-to or
representative voice to vouch for the
needs of CSOs and highlight efforts.
• Having a representative voice of CSOs
for both the government and media can
help combat the lack of trust and lack of
awareness and lead to greater impact at
scale.
We need a united voice to stand and
lobby for the needs and efforts of
CSOs. Without the government,
there are serious limitations to
achieving scale for our work.RCRC
can be that representative voice for
CSOs”
- RCRC member
“
We need to have more conversations
with donorsto give them a view of
CSO realities to ensure that their
funding criteria includecapacity
building like OD costs, overheads for
staff trainings,don’texclude small
CSOs by design.”
- RCRC member
“ We know very little about the work
of each other (RCRC members), and
the innovations in the respective
sectors.If we can know about each
others’work,there willbe greater
scope for working together and
creating a larger impact.”
- RCRC member
“
CSOs face three majorchallenges...

Several efforts work to increase media attention and influence
government action; equity-centered research is more of a whitespace
Notes: (1) Examples discussed are indicative and not exhaustive; (2) FSSM stands for Faecal Sludge and Septage Management 63
Needs Individualefforts1
Increasing media
attention to the needs
of marginalized
communities
Inclusive government
policies and programs
Equity-centered
research
AWARENES
S
ATTENTION
Collective efforts1
• People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI) generates
content and collates content from others to
showcase everyday lives of everyday people in rural
India
• Other alternative media sources such as Dalit
Murasu strive to provide a space for
underrepresented voices
• India Sanitation coalition has a knowledge fellowship
program to expose select media professionals to the
sanitation value chain and its socio-economic
impacts
Various efforts especially by individual organizations are bringing out the voices of the marginalized but they
have not yet been able to push them into mainstreamnational media
• UNICEF through its inclusive social policy program
works with union and state governments to build /
strengthen programs with mothers and children as
direct beneficiaries
• National FSSM2 coalition works with union and state
governments to draft FSSM policies and releases
knowledge products to facilitate increased budget
allocations for FSSM
Large organizations – collaboratives, multilaterals, large CSOs – have been able to influence government
policies andprograms but they tend to be too limited in their scope or too high level in their impact metrics
• Public Health Foundation of India generates
evidence on socioeconomic inequality and social
determinants of health in India with the help of
marginalized communities as subjects
Few large-scale research efforts are consciously inclusive of marginalized communities and report disaggregated
data (as opposed to overall / averaged data)
MARGINALIZED
COMMUNITIES

Last-mile delivery witnesses significant efforts; efforts on influencing
funding can be more aligned
Needs Individualefforts1
Streamlining funding
with a multi-sector
lens
AWARENES
S
Collective efforts1
Enablinglast-mile
delivery of services
and entitlements
ACCES
S
• Haqdarshak enables MSMEs, marginal workers
employed by corporates such as factory and
construction workers file and track applications for
government entitlements
• Several RCRC members such as Ibtada ensure that
government schemes and entitlements for rural India
such as MGNREGA reach the intended beneficiaries
• Migrants’ Resilience Collaborative (MRC) enables
migrant workers and returnees to file applications for
social security benefits, access responsible
recruitment and report grievances / violations of law
Significant efforts are already underway by both individual organizations and collectives to enable last-mile
delivery; facilitating greater fundingand cross-learning might help enhance their efficiency andeffectiveness
• Pay what it takes collective works towards socializing
support among donors for non-programmatic
organizational development funding for CSOs
• India Sanitation Coalition works to increase private
sector funding for sanitation
64
Notes: (1) Examples discussed are indicative and not exhaustive
Current efforts aim to direct funding in different directions typically from a narrow sectoral lens; there is a need
for abroader, more streamlined approach
• Dasra educates funders to be more strategic in their
giving and facilitates collaborations between funders
and CSOs
MARGINALIZED
COMMUNITIES

Various efforts aim to build grassroots entrepreneurs and to a lesser
extent community leaders; media representation lacks attention
Needs
Increasing
representation of
marginalizedgroups
in alllevels of
government
Increasing
representation of
marginalizedgroups
in business
Increasing
representation in
media
There are no real efforts to increase the diversity of mainstreamIndianmedia outside of a few scholarships for
SC students in journalism colleges such asthe Asian College of Journalism
• CORO’s grassroots development leadership program
facilitates select members from marginalized
communities to drive change in their communities
through targeted training and support
• S M Sehgal foundation’s Women’s Leadership School
aims to build the capacity of and provide a collective
action platform for grassroots women leaders such as
elected representatives, SHG members etc.
A few efforts aim to equip members of marginalized communities with leadership skills to drive change. There
typically is no clear path for memberswho go through suchefforts to climb up the political ladder
Individualefforts1 Collective efforts1
• RCRC member Udyogini enables women from
marginalized communities to become entrepreneurs
through skill development and market linkages
• Child Fund India conducts skill development training
for youth to start their own enterprises or succeed in
the job market
Various efforts at cultivating andbuilding the skills of entrepreneurs, and facilitating greater entry of people
from marginalized groups into companiesbut none on ensuring their rise within companies
• Global Alliance for Mass Entrepreneurship (GAME)
works to enhance job creation by entrepreneurs with
a focus on youth, women and MSMEs but not on
MARGINALIZED
COMMUNITIES
REPRESENTATION
65

There is momentum towards enhancing collaboration and capacity;
representation of CSOs and establishing capacity standards is lacking
Needs Individualefforts1 Collective efforts1
Facilitating cross-
learning to enhance
collaboration between
CSOs
Facilitating
collaboration between
CSOs and external
actors
COLLABORATION
Cross-learning between CSOs might be happening at aninformal level within coalitions and the sector at large
but doesnot seemto be a stated /institutionalized objective
Learning most commonly takes the form of knowledge generationanddissemination
Various efforts have created pockets of CSO-donor-government collaboration; A larger co-ordinated pushis
needed to ensure that suchcollaboration becomes the norm
• India Sanitation Coalition organizes roundtable
discussions involving government bodies, financial
institutions and grassroot organizations to solve for
credit finance in the WASH supply chain
• Dasra facilitates collaborations between funders,
CSOs, corporations and the government to help them
share learnings and create joint solutions
CIVIL
SOCIETY
ORGANIZATIONS
Establishing capacity
and accountability
standards
• CAF India offers CSOs certificate of validation based
on an assessment of their credentials, capacity and
track record. Tailored capacity building is offered to
help CSOs address weaknesses identified during the
assessment
• GuideStar India certifies CSOs on their level of
transparency and public accountability based on an
evaluation of key documents and activities
There are no widely recognized standards for CSO capacity, transparency and accountability. As a result,
external actors don’t have reliable means to assess potential partner CSOs esp. newer and smaller CSOs
• Credibility alliance aims to enhance CSO
transparency and accountability through
accreditation
CAPACIT
Y
66
There have been few efforts to establish a go-to representative voice to vouch and lobby collectively for CSOs;
collaborativeslike VANI have previously done this at alimited level, but aconcerted effort is missing
Establishing a go-to
representativevoice
for CSOs in
government and media
REPRESENTATIO
N

Various individual and collective efforts work to address these needs; our
analysis shows gaps persist esp. in terms of scale, depth and coordination
67
Our analysis shows that despite all the efforts currently undertaken, there exist many gaps that are yet to be fully
addressed. The major gaps are:
• Scale: Most efforts are sub-scale in terms of their sectoral, geographic and / or beneficiary focus
• Depth: Larger scale efforts tend to look at the average or overall picture without diving into the specifics for sub-groups
•Coordination: Most efforts are designed and implemented without knowledge of or conscious attention to other efforts
sometimes resulting in competing or contradicting efforts being implemented
Individual efforts
• CSOs and social enterprises mostly working independently
towards addressing the needs of marginalized communities
Collective efforts
• CSOs forming coalitions / collaboratives sometimes along
with philanthropic donors and government bodies to
collectively address the needs of marginalized communities

RCRC has unique strengths that allow it to operate at scale and be the
“collaborator” across ecosystem actors
68
Source: Dalberg RCRC Member Survey
Access to marginalized
communities
Representative network of
CSOs with pan-India
coverage
RCRC members collectively
drive ~2
%of total
and include some of the
largest CSOs and comprise
over 40% of small NGOs and
have a presence in a majority
of states and UTs in India
Stats
• 76 members
• More than ₹ 1200crore
cumulative budget
• Over 10,000 combined
employee strength
• Over 1.6 crore beneficiaries
reached
Access to government
1 2 3
RCRC members reach some
of the most vulnerable
communities in the country
Examples
• Keystone Foundation:
Indigenous tribes in the
Nilgiri Bioshpere Reserve
(NBR)
• EBSSS:Kols in Bundelkhand
• Ibtada: Meo Muslim
community in Mewat,
Rajasthan
RCRC, through its members,
have strong access to the
highest levels of government,
and can enter partnerships, as
well as gain a seat at the table
for important policy measures
and schemes
Stats
• The Ministry of Rural
Development, ICAR and
RCRC entered an MoU to
economically transform 100
rural Districts in the
country.
Access to donors and trust
to aggregate funding
RCRC facilitated close to ₹ 50
crore in funding for member
organizations despite being a
new collaborative
Stats
• RCRC used less than ₹ 3
crores to facilitated the ₹
50 crore funding – a
leverage of more than 16X
• Additionally, RCRC has
already influenced a few
donors’ funding strategies
by being a trusted
aggregator and partner
4

Rural development challenges are complex and interrelated; creating
lasting change necessitates addressing multiple challenges simultaneously
70
Gender equality – Education – WASH
• It is estimated that 23%girls drop out of
school in Indiaonreachingpuberty due to
lack of adequatesanitationfacilities such as
toilets, sanitary napkins, safe disposal areas1
• Even among the girls who do not drop out,
11% miss school on a regular basis and 45%
report a drop in concentration2
• This directly affects their education
outcomes and hence career prospects later in
life
Agriculture – Climate change
• Multiple studies show that climate change
will lead to productivity andincome
declinesin India’sagriculture, forestry and
fisheries– the backbone of rural economy –
with some studies expecting farm incomes
to decline by 18%3
• Agriculture also contributes to India’s GHG
emissions. Studies estimate that adopting
practices such as efficient use of fertilizer,
zero tillageandbetter water management
in rice farming can cut emissions by 18%
Education – Financial inclusion –
Poverty alleviation
• Financial education / literacy can enhance
financial inclusion especially in terms of the
depth of inclusion by enablingnot just
accessto but usageof financial services5
• Increased use of financial services has the
potential to facilitate income growth and
reduce poverty levels6 e.g., business loans
for farmers and other microentrepreneurs,
micro-investment opportunities etc.
Sources: (1) Dasra, Dignity for Her, 2015; (2) M Sivakami et al., Effect of menstruation on girls and their schooling, and facilitators of menstrual hygiene management in schools: surveys in government schools in three
states in India, 2015; (3) Ideas for India, Climate Change and Indian Agriculture, 2018; (4) CIMMYT, New study: India could cut nearly 18% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions through cost-saving farming
practices; (5) A Grohmann et al., Does financial literacy improve financial inclusion? Cross country evidence, 2018; (6) M A Omar et al., Does financial inclusion reduce poverty and income inequality in developing
countries? A panel data analysis, 2020
While RCRC started with a focus on “rural livelihoods”, it should now look broaden its efforts into “rural
development” in order to work on many of these sectors and topics simultaneously
Examples of complex and interrelated challenges:

There is limited representation of the needs and interests of vulnerable
communities of rural India in policy, research, and media
71
Policy
Policies and schemes are rarely equitable and
inclusive,leaving behind the vulnerable.Examples:
Research
Research studies on the vulnerable are too generic to
inspire national level policy action
Media
Indian media is severely lacking in representation both
in their dissemination and in theirdecision making
• MGNREGA has not benefitted people with
disabilities and religious minorities
• NRLM falls short of addressing caste and
gender barriers to greater social mobility
• NFSA doesn’t recognize divorced / separated
women as ‘households’ depriving them of
ration cards and hence basic security nets to
• Most research tends to be at a sub-district to
district level with few studies at a state level
• Different studies adopt different sample sizes
and sampling methods, and target different gaps
making them dismissible as edge cases
• Larger studies tend to be meta-analyses of data
from smaller studies or the government raising
consistency issues or lacking qualitative data
• Caste and gender issues are rarely covered.
When they are, they tend to be covered by
upper caste men
• Most anchors and panelists on flagship
segments tend to be upper caste men
• Dalits are completely absent from decision
making positions at major media organizations.
Muslim and women representation is only
marginally better
The voice of the grassroots needs to be brought to the public
sector to ensure that government initiativescreate impact for the
poor”
- Parmesh Shah
“ Thereis a need to ensure that grassroot voices inform decision
making not justthe voices of people with money”
- Anurag Behar
“

Targeted policy action is necessary as underrepresented communities in
rural areas continue to lag behind others in most metrics
Source: 2011 Census data; Business Standard, Fewer poor among SC, ST, OBC, 2014; Kumari M, Mohanty SK., Caste, religion and regional
differentials in life expectancy at birth in India: cross-sectional estimates from recent National Family Health Survey, 2020 72
Literacy rate in rural India
2011, in %
56%
64%
Total
51%
69%
59%
79%
38%
48%
39%
SC ST
Legend: All Male Female
ST
SC
32%
Total
26%
45%
Poverty rate in rural India
2011-12, in %
68
63 64
66
60 61
70
66 68
Upper castes SC ST
Life expectancy at birth
2015-16,in years

Other vulnerable groups from rural India like migrants continue to be left
behind and can greatly benefit from the support of RCRC’s programming
Source: 1. Dalberg study with Omidyar Network, yet to be released. 2. Economic Times, They have not returned: How Covid-19 has impacted labour migration in the
country, 2021. 73
There are a host of challenges that affect migrants; RCRC can help address some of these
1
2
3
Access to government entitlements
and schemes
Re-integration of returnee migrants
Lack of reliable data on migrants
Despite schemes like the One Nation One Ration Card (ONORC) being
implemented that are targeted to making migrant lives easier, studies
show low uptake. A recent Dalberg study found that only 20% of
migrant households with ration cards tried using portability to access
their rations.1 RCRC member organizationscanadvocate for migrants’
access for these entitlements andalso raise awareness among
communities.
The reverse migration that was triggered as a result of the first COVID
wave is yet to normalize fully, and an estimated 10% migrants are yet
to return to urban areas, meaning that they are likely to look for
employment and livelihood in their villages.2 RCRC through its
immensenetwork and reach in rural areas can help surface the needs
of these returnees throughresearch and then help address these
needs throughits member organizations.
Current data on migrants in India is unreliable and outdated. RCRC can
play apivotal role in pluggingthese gapsin data throughresearch
efforts, and elevating migrantvoices andneeds in public discourse

Rural development policies and schemes are rarely equitable and
inclusive, leaving behind several vulnerable and underrepresented groups
Sources: M Subharwal et al., Factors Influencing Accessibility of Mgnrega Entitlements by Socially Excluded Groups, 2014; M Bhattarai et al.,
MGNREGA Impact on Rural Asset Creation: a study in two villages of Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh, India, 2014; C. Neogi et al., Women’s Entrepreneurship and
Microfinance, 2017; VOICE, A Report on the Success and Failure of SHG’s in India – Impediments and Paradigm of Success, 2008; K Berry, Disowning Dependence: Single
Women's Collective Struggle for Independence and Land Rights in Northwestern India, 2011; TNIE, Newly-wed women deprived of ration sans easy porting, 2021 74
Examplesof shortcomings of the largestruraldevelopment policies/ initiatives
MGNREGA
The 33% reservation for all marginalized groups
combined has not benefitted people with
disabilitiesandreligious minorities
• For e.g., a study in South 24 Paraganas district
of West Bengal found that Muslims accounted
for just 13% of person days created despite
constituting 36% of the district population
The provision for asset creation on private lands
puts the landless,who tend to be predominantly
from marginalized communities, at a disadvantage
• For e.g., a study in Prakasam district of Andhra
Pradesh found that not all works directly
benefitted the landless and the indirect
benefits were contingent on external factors
Widespread implementation issues suggest a need
for establishing a concrete accountability
mechanism at the policy level
NRLM
The model of providing microfinancing to the poor
by grouping them into collectives such as SHGs,
occupation-based cooperatives etc. falls short of
addressing caste andgender barriers to greater
social mobility esp. for the most vulnerable
• For e.g., a study in Purulia, West Bengal found
that vulnerable women like widowed,
divorced, SCs, STs, extremely poor were
unable to avail benefits from and did not
actively participate in SHGs
• In a national level study, it was found that
SHG loans were typically provided for
activities that reinforced stereotypical gender-
based division of labor and that poor women
reported a higher workload on joining an SHG
as the additional SHG workload did not
generate sufficient income
National Food Security Act
Single womenincludingdivorced /separated
women are not recognized as a ‘household’ in
most states often leaving them without a ration
card and basic security nets
• For e.g., a study in Himachal Pradesh reported
how separated women were not able to access
the provisions they were entitled to because
their names were in their (ex-)husband’s ration
card
Lack of streamlined and accountable portability
mechanisms that cause hardship for newly-wed
women
• Multiple articles report newly-wed women in
Odisha being unable to get their name added to
their in-laws’ ration card despite producing all
required documents and having their names
deleted from their parents’ ration card leaving
them without access to provisions they are
entitled to

Note: To visualize the word cloud, 100 headlines were chosen at random out of 1.13 lakh national news headlines in The Hindu from 2009 to
2021
Sources: (1) UN Women, Gender Inequality in Indian Media, 2019; (2) Oxfam, Who tells our stories matters, 2019; (3) Media Studies Group, A
Survey of a ‘Dark’ Reality: Caste in Media in 2006; (4) Dalberg analysis 75
• Media outlets rarely cover caste or gender
issues. Even when they do, they tend to be
covered by upper caste men1,2
• Most anchors on flagship segments as well as
most experts interviewed for reports tend to
be upper caste men2
• Dalits are completely absent from decision
making positions e.g., editor-in-chief at major
media organizations in India. Muslim and
women representation is only marginally
better3
Supreme
ensure
Parties Three
meet
poll
7
Railways
Green
Sheila
Bullets
Unfazed
Rebels
Scams
BJD
proceedings
shoot
Shahid
Parlia
Kera
m
la
ent
Coimbatore
hail
declares
talk
targets
involved
tribunal
Nair
aircraft
shows
create
comment Sharif
Right
poor
take
COVID-19
enact Sushma,
‘Panel
aspirants'
chief's
Collegium
science
Digest:
‘powerful
26-Nov
3G
remarks
designated
‘clear-cut
polls'
plan
gives
IAF
force
delays
duo
donation
sector
image
test
CBI
disturbance
chief
man
bus
scale Speaker
Ki
bad
leak
stir,
PMO
R.
Kota;
coronavirus
Batticaloa
Maharashtra;
engines
Sabha
rests
relations
rejig
Sha
f
n
ight
k
s
a
ummo
r
n
spectrum
mandate:
withdrawal
Rajya bound bond
weak
Omicron
Savarkar, media
price
power
back
Additionally, media coverage of policy gaps as well as the needs and
challenges faced by the vulnerable and marginalized remains limited
Word cloud based on headlines in The Hindu from 2009 to 2021

The vulnerable and underrepresented comprise a large and diverse group
that spans the whole nation
Source: Census data 76
69% 31%
Rural Urban
India
%
11%
15% 18% 27% 27%
2
Other
women
PwD ST Religious SC
minorities
Rural India
Others
47% 73%
Underrepresented communities are incredibly
diverse. They comprise of more than 1800
communities and tribes following different
religions / sects and conversing in different
languages
Underrepresented communities are diverse, represent more …and are spread across the nation
than 47%of rural population …
Arabian
Sea
Bay
of
Bengal
Indian Ocean
Maharashtra
Andhra
Pradesh
Odisha
Lakshadweep
G oa
Puducherry
Tamil Nadu
An daman
and
Nicobar
Islan ds
Madhya Pradesh
West
Bengal
Bihar
Jharkhand
Uttar Pradesh
Uttarakhand
Assam
Arunachal
Pradesh
Nagaland
Manipur
Tripura
Mizoram
S ikkim
Meghalaya
Rajasthan
G ujarat
Haryana
Himachal
Pradesh
Punjab
Delhi
Chandigarh
Jammu
and
Kashmir
Daman
and Diu
Dadra and
Nagar Haveli
Map not to scale
www.indzara.com
ColourGradient
Lowest (light) to Highest (dark)
Telangana
1.8% SC, ST
population
94.5% SC, ST
population

Studies detailing policy gaps and issues affecting the most vulnerable are
too geographically specific to inspire national level policy action
• Most research tends to be at a sub-
district to district level with few studies
at a state level
• Different studies adopt different sample
sizes and sampling methods, and target
different gaps making them dismissible
as edge cases limited to the geography
studied
• Larger studies tend to be meta-analyses
of data collected by smaller studies or
the government raising consistency
issues or lacking qualitative data
77
Coordinated large scale studies with uniform sampling methods and objectives can provide reliable
information that can be leveraged to influence government action
Illustrative examples

Building an inclusive future

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